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Ecuador native Jose Olmedo Renteria is known in Latin America as &ldquo;Mic Delincuente.&rdquo;

A scene from Jose Renteria's YouTube video for "Algo Bueno," a hit Latin American single for the rapper who styles himself as "Mic D" or "Mic Delincuente" - Spanish for 'delinquent'. (YouTube)

Luisa Balladares, mother of Jose Renteria, was also charged with obstructing police in the New Year's Day hit-and-run accident that killed 7-year-old Jacoub Favila. (FACEBOOK)

By Jennifer Pagliaro and Alex BallingallStaff Reporters

Thu., Jan. 10, 2013

The man charged in the hit-and-run death of a 7-year-old Ajax boy lived a fast life in the spotlight as an emerging Latin American rap artist and is the son of a well-known New York City subway train magician.

Jose Olmedo Renteria, 30, has made headlines for his recent arrest in the death of Jacoub Favila, after the Hummer H2 he is alleged to have been driving struck the boy’s family’s minivan on Highway 401 near Dixie Rd. in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

But in Toronto and abroad, Renteria is better known as recording artist “Mic D” or “Mic Delincuente” — Spanish for delinquent.

His rap moniker has brought him notice in the Latin American world, including his homeland of Ecuador, where his single “Algo Bueno” rose to fame last summer, garnering more than 1 million hits on YouTube and landing him several local TV performances.

A slick video for the single features several women poolside in thongs, with Renteria, wearing a backwards cap and glittering jewelry, rhyming in Spanish about the high life — expensive cars and buying clothes in Europe.

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“Today something good has to happen to me,” the chorus goes.

John Aviles, night manager at Latin hip hop club Las Brisas, near Weston Rd. and Highway 400, said he met Renteria when he came in to discuss a potential performance at the establishment.

“He could come across as maybe not the nicest person,” said Aviles, referencing the air of bravado many rappers assume. “But once you get to know him, you realize that he’s pretty down to earth.”

Aviles said Renteria has never performed at his club, but their DJs play his songs from time to time.

Video clips posted to the rapper’s personal channel feature appearances on several South American talk shows, where Renteria is billed as an international artist, performing his hit song and talking about life in Canada.

In one clip on the Panamanian morning show Tu Mañana, Renteria sports a light-coloured Toronto Blue Jays cap.

A 2011 profile posted to the popular Toronto Latino website TorontoHispano.com says Renteria moved to Canada in 2000 with his mother and brother from his native Guayaquil — Ecuador’s largest city, with more than 2 million people — and started his music career at a young age.

The rapper’s biography on his own social networks describe him as the son of the great magician “Olmedini” — who the New York Times revealed in a 2001 profile to be Olmedo Renteria, also born in Guayaquil, who had spent nearly a decade dazzling subway train passengers with his illusions and old-world trickery.

Renteria’s mother, Luisa Balladares (whom Ontario Provincial Police had described as Luisa Baladaris) said she could not discuss her son’s case when reached at a Toronto hospital Wednesday, where she is undergoing pancreatic surgery.

“I don’t know, because now I am sick,” she said.

Balladares has also been charged in the case, with obstructing police. She was released on bail after her Jan. 4 arrest.

Renteria appeared in a Brampton court shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday, shuffling into the prisoner’s box and scanning the courtroom with a woeful glance.

Earlier this week, House said a special bail hearing would be set up because the Crown plans to call a police witness to give testimony.

Justice of the Peace Cristina Santos granted the postponement and Renteria was ushered from the courtroom wearing the same baggy jeans, grey shirt and plush winter vest as he wore in his last appearance on Monday.

Renteria has been charged with dangerous driving causing death, criminal negligence causing death, and failure to remain at the scene of an accident.

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